We’re reviewing our year-long look at a redo for godliness. This daily devotional finishes the review of who God is.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
We can’t imitate God if we don’t know Who He is. We began reviewing His attributes in the last devotion. Let’s finish up.
Let’s Put It into Context, cont.
Jealous and Wrathful
- God’s jealousy means He does not tolerate His creation being unfaithful by worshiping anything other than Him.
- God’s wrath is the anger He expresses when we break His laws and commandments.
In Old Testament times, idols could be anything from wooden carvings, images, or imageless worship. Today, we can worship anything from money, prosperity, celebrities, or science. The concept is still the same.
What God looks like isn’t what is important. Who God is and what His character is has to be where we keep our focus.
We aren’t going to be a spirit like God until we get our new bodies. So, here in this earth, we have to try to imitate His character. That is the way in which we grow to be like Him. If we boil this down to its elemental aspect, what we are talking about here is worshiping God the right way. That is why we were created.
God wants us to focus on Him rather than forming alliances with worldview people.
Because God is a jealous God, He will one day pass judgment on us when He “… pour[s] out [His] wrath …” (Zeph. 3: 8 NIV).
Judgment will be used to purge this world from the sin that enslaves it. That will restore it to its previous state.
God’s wrath will abate when we ask for forgiveness of our sins.
Glorious and Beautiful
- God’s glory is, in part, the product of the adoration created when we praise God and give Him honor.
- God’s beauty is the aura produced by genuine moral obedience.
We have not seen the full display of God’s power.
God can’t conceal everything from us, or He wouldn’t get the glory. God can’t conceal everything from us, but He has to have some mystery to receive glory.
Mankind was made to glorify God.
Perfect, Holy, Just, Righteous, Faithful, and True
- God’s perfection refers to His unspotted performance of all the other attributes, making Him spiritually whole and complete.
- God’s holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- God’s justice is the order in He provides to creation.
- God’s righteousness is the result of His being pure.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- God’s faithfulness is the constancy He displays in His interaction with mankind based on His character, name, and Word.
- God is both the One, true Sovereign God and one Who only speaks truth itself.
God is totally perfect. All of His attributes do link together. He is perfect in them all. Being perfect tells us the status of the other attributes are spiritually whole and complete.
God’s way is perfect because of His purity, an aspect of His holiness.
Because God is pure — free from sin, He is holy.
God can’t show us all of His holiness yet because this life is a trial for the next life. We aren’t in our perfected state yet. That goes along with God can’t and won’t reveal everything to us.
God is just because He shows no favoritism.
God is just even when He punishes those who break His laws and commandments. It is us that bring the punishment on ourselves, not Him. We choose to break His laws and commandments.
His fair treatment of us is not dependent on us. That God is just stems from His mercy and compassion. Paul said that it has nothing to do with us.
God is righteous because He is pure and works for us.
If righteousness stems from His character — to me — that makes the “right” His character. His character is the holiness. He is holy because He is pure. He is pure because He doesn’t sin.
Righteousness is the foundation of salvation. Righteousness originates with God. He shares it with us. Nothing we could do will ever earn us salvation and, therefore, righteousness.
God’s whole purpose with the Plan of Salvation is to make us righteous again. We were before the original sin — He wants us to be again.
The Gospel is the saving power of God because it infuses a morality of purity and completeness. It shows us Who God is. But it is built on the revelation of what righteousness is. We can’t be saved unless we understand what righteousness is.
God wants to shower his righteousness on us (Attributes of God: Righteousness).
God’s righteousness is based on His purity (Attributes of God: Righteousness).
We’ve got to love God because He is God. We have to love Him for His character — His attributes — not for the rewards (Attributes of God: Faithfulness).
God is going to be merciful and true regardless of our obedience or disobedience. What we gain by obedience is understanding of His ways (Attributes of God: Faithfulness).
We can choose God for eternity because He is faithful to us. We know this because God has told us this — and He is faithful to His Word. God has promised us that, when we genuinely submit to Him, He will save us and bring us home to Heaven. We can rely in that. He loves us that much (Attributes of God: Faithfulness).
Because of God’s righteousness — His purity in not sinning — we can be justified. We get this justification through our faith that God will be faithful in giving it to us when we submit to Him (Attributes of God: Faithfulness).
God keeps His word. It is more than being unchangeable. That is He can’t do anything differently. To me, being faithful is God doesn’t want to do things differently. He chooses to keep His word to us (Attributes of God: Faithfulness).
It does seem like we think most about God’s veracity. That is especially accurate when we couple truth with His faithfulness. I think we see God as the One true God more when we hook it onto His righteousness. All put together, it adds up to God’s perfection (Attributes of God: True).
When God promises to do something — or not do something — He does or doesn’t (Attributes of God: True).
Truth, along with faithfulness, is the avenue on which mercy is given (Attributes of God: True).
Because God is true, He does or doesn’t do something – but sometimes in a totally different way than we anticipate (Attributes of God: True).
Mercy doesn’t just come out of His love for us. God shows us mercy because of what He says He will do — and He is true to that word (Attributes of God: True).
God does not lie because He is wise. This, coupled with His love and faithfulness, negate the need to lie (Attributes of God: True).
Loving, Gracious, Compassionate, Merciful, and Forgiving
- God’s love is His all-encompassing favor that He has for us that is not dependent on our actions.
- God’s grace is the product of the joy of a life with God and His purity.
- God’s mercy is an act of sovereign will that produces an unexpected and undeserved response from God as He responds in love to our needs.
- God’s forgiveness is His ability to pardon us even though we have disobeyed Him by breaking His laws and commandments.
Love is the foundations of all the other attributes being perfections. If God didn’t love, wisdom, power, and truth wouldn’t be perfect (Attributes of God: Loving).
If goodness is the feeling, mercy is the act. Or maybe it is the springboard (Attributes of God: Gracious and Compassionate).
It is only by God’s grace that we gain salvation (Attributes of God: Gracious and Compassionate).
If grace is a part of God, mercy is how He shows it. It just flows out of Him (Attributes of God: Gracious and Compassionate).
God chooses to show us mercy in order to forgive us of our sins (Attributes of God: Merciful and Forgiving).
God chose to forgive us because of His mercy. We didn’t deserve forgiveness, but in His mercy, He chose to give it to us anyway (Attributes of God: Merciful and Forgiving).
So if grace is the gift, mercy is the way the gift is given. It is the emotion behind the gift (Attributes of God: Merciful and Forgiving).
Mercy is given to us first, then grace. I can see that. The mercy carries with it the element of pity. God pities the sinful state we are in and then provides the grace through which we are saved (Attributes of God: Merciful and Forgiving).
God, in His mercy, sent Jesus to be our Savior. That mercy is the start of our salvation (Attributes of God: Merciful and Forgiving).
God’s abundant mercy stems from His love (Attributes of God: Merciful and Forgiving).
God doesn’t have mercy for only certain sins. God has mercy for all sins (Attributes of God: Merciful and Forgiving).
The abundance of God’s mercy impacts God’s forgiveness (Attributes of God: Merciful and Forgiving).
Providential and Caring
- God’s Providence is His care of us because of His loving nature to provide.
It was never in God’s plan to create us and the universe and leave us to our own designs. He always intended to implement the Plan of Salvation so that we might be restored to Him (Attributes of God: Providential and Caring).
God will provide for us what we need (Attributes of God: Providential and Caring).
God will withhold His provision when we are disobedient (Attributes of God: Providential and Caring).
Goodness
- God’s goodness is His holy, pure, and righteous behavior.
- Holy means to be set apart, perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
God shows His goodness to believers and non-believers alike. It is one way in which He takes care of those made in His image (Attributes of God: Goodness).
I see God’s goodness coming out of His purity. Regardless of the manifestation of His goodness, it stems from His sinlessness (Attributes of God: Goodness).
Phillips expanded upon what God’s goodness is. He wrote, “The pious man meditates upon the excellency of the Divine character. His holiness, His justice, His truth, His love, His mercy, His grace, His faithfulness, are all great parts in His infinite goodness.”
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Making the Connections
Our Sovereign God is an awesome God! And He wants us to be awesome, too.
That is the whole purpose of the redo. We are to have God’s character.
We get them through navigating the Sanctification Road. We don’t get just one shot to get it right.
God keeps working on us until we are ready to be perfected. He gives us many shots – as long as we ask His forgiveness when we take an off ramp from the Sanctification Road.
How Do We Apply This?
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Father God. You are an awesome God. We choose to follow You and commit to growing into Your character. Amen.
What do you think?
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